[485]: Worth the Risk by Claudia Connor

Trust me, I’m also a little bit doubtful about my reading choices nowadays. I’ve been all over the place, I know! Also, a bit surprised that I am not the least bit apologetic about my admission. If you’re sitting there thinking that the cover looks familiar, think no more. It’s because you might’ve seen a review of its predecessor, Worth the Fall reviewed on my blog. A book that made me realize the importance of honesty and staying true to myself to keep the spirit of fun while reading. In other words, I refused to be a closeted romance reader any longer.

Also, who can forget a washboard like that?!

You have no idea how long I’ve waited for this book. It’s almost a travesty that it only took me three hours, tops to read it. Trust me, I savoured this book because I don’t know when the next one will be out. I can now say, in the most exuberant candidness, that I am irrevocably addicted to Ms. Connor’s McKinney Brothers. And this is just the second book.

Worth the Risk is the story of Stephen McKinney. A real estate mogul who had five years to recover from a nightmare that he relives during his weaker moments. He is closed up, and numbed to the possibility of love. That is, until he meets Hannah.

Hannah Walker has nightmares of her own. Nowadays, she finds solace in her horses and the kids with disabilities that she, in turn help find their little moments of happiness no matter how temporary they may seem. She’s a therapist. On a day when she lost her companion of some years, she meets Stephen: handsome, charismatic and persistent.

Their story begins like any other romance books you will find in the grocery store. But I always find comfort when I read Ms. Connor’s books. It brings me back to those days when I would scour a charity shop for a long-suffering-sigh type of reads. When I was younger, I remember fantasizing about the men in those kind of books. The rich, kind men who sweeps the heroines off their feet. Stephen McKinney fills those shoes for me. Nowadays though, I’d lose my feminist card if I dare admit of looking for a man like that. Ha.

Hannah is far from the weak heroine looking for a man to save her. In fact, once you read her story, you’ll wonder how anyone could survive the horrors she’d gone through. Claudia couldn’t have conjured two perfectly paired, tortured characters as she did with Hannah and Stephen. We see them go through their nightmares; and we see them wake up a bit more healed because of each other.

As usual, Ms. Connors shows how well she can convert those non-readers of pure romance genre (i.e…me?) into some kind of an addict looking for their next hit. She does romance and family dynamics well. I smell a spin-off, and I, for one, can hardly wait!